The Patna High Court has made it clear that in determining compensation for land acquisition, mere declaration of an exemplary sale is not sufficient without examining the sellers or buyers involved.

Justice Nawneet Kumar, who presides over the case, observed, “It is an admitted fact that the compensation for the acquired land was assessed on the basis of the declaration of sale (Ext.C) of another village of Dharmangtpur. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in paragraph 6 of the Collector Raigarh case (supra) has been pleased to specifically hold that the declaration of sale cannot be relied upon, without examining the sellers or buyers. Neither the seller nor the buyer of the title of sale were examined by the State.”

The case concerned the acquisition of five acres of land belonging to the appellant under section 4(1) of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The appellant raised an objection under section 5A, which was rejected, and the declaration under section 6 was issued for a public purpose. The appellant suggested alternative plots through a second objection petition, but both the applications were rejected by the Additional Collector.

The appellant’s counsel argued that the compensation awarded by the State Government was inadequate. He argued that the authorities had based the compensation calculation on a different town’s declaration of sale, without examining the seller or the buyer. She submitted that this approach was inappropriate and that the competent court erred in relying on the declaration of sale to determine compensation for the land in question.

The defendants’ lawyers, however, claimed that the court had not committed any illegality in calculating compensation based on the sales declaration. He explained that the sale declaration concerned Dharmangtpur village, adjacent to Mohammadpur Gokul village. He maintained that the land in both towns was of the same nature. Since in the four years preceding the acquisition there was no sale deed of Mohammadpur Gokul, the sale declaration of the neighboring village of Dharmangtpur was tendered in evidence and the compensation was fairly calculated on the basis of it.

The Court held that the trial court erred in calculating the compensation on the basis of the declaration of sale and ordered that the quantum of compensation be calculated on the basis of a sample sale deed of the same village.

Case title: Daya Shankar Prasad Thakur vs State of Bihar

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 100

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